"Advocacy".

We hear that word quite a bit these days, along with words like “ally”. On the surface, being an advocate is pretty obvious: you are advocating for someone or something. But advocacy is not merely trying to get people to see your point of view, to change their minds, or to get what you want. The biggest part of advocacy—especially when it comes to social change—is education. So many times, people fear what they don't know, or simply don't understand. That, combined with miseducation, disinformation, and outright propaganda, often leads people to resist a change that—in the end—could actually benefit them, or others, or society as a whole.

Hemp and CBD are in a state of national ascent as far as public consciousness goes. It's been a long time in coming, and while we're still dealing with the residual mess of prohibition, we're definitely in a better place than we were 20, 10, even five years ago. But there is still resistance, still disinformation, and frankly, still stigma surrounding hemp, CBD, and its inclusion in both a person's life, and our society on whole.

Educated, thoughtful advocacy has (by and large) gotten us to this new place of hemp acceptance. It's easy to say that twenty years ago, no one would have thought that as a nation we'd find ourselves here, with hemp farms sprouting up (quite literally) all across the nation, and hemp-derived products at both your local Mega-Mart, and your mom-and-pop gas station.

But is that actually true? No one would have thought? Actually, a number of people did think that, and we have them—and many others--to thank for their tireless efforts to help make this new hemp world a reality. And it's incumbent upon us to do our part to keep this momentum going, to keep moving forward, to dispel the myths and disinformation about cannabis-hemp with sound science and facts, and to make sure that the benefits of hemp—from agriculture, to the environment, to nutrition, and wellness—are known by as many people as possible so that the powers that be include hemp in the big picture of this nation, this economy, and this society, for the betterment of our nation, its citizens, and our planet.

So in the next few weeks, we'll discuss (in brief) some of the more prominent hemp advocates, what their message was, their importance and place in hemp history, as well as how you can be an effective hemp advocate, and do your part to help keep this movement going.

Until then, stay cool...